Free-Market Analysis: We have wondered recently why the US has not acted more forcefully as regards North Korea's various "provocations."

One theory being floated by certain more "far out" aspects of the alternative media is that North Korea has placed cobalt in its underground bunkers.

Rumor has it that cobalt, when combined with large explosions, can turn into cobalt-60 … a deadly radioactive gas that would flood the atmosphere at high levels and virtually poison all life on Earth for several centuries.

Supposedly, Iran has now lined ITS bunkers with cobalt, meaning that any "bunker buster" raids on Iran or North Korea have been ruled out by Western military.

Truly, the idea that something like cobalt-60 is nullifying the nuclear capabilities of Western armaments is a fairly stupefying one that has incredible ramifications.

Not saying we believe such reports, only that they certainly give rise to numerous scenarios that would otherwise be out of the realm of possibility.

For whatever reason, these days Western powers including NATO seem somewhat reticent to project the prototypical "shock and awe" when it comes to Iran and North Korea, preferring instead to focus on sanctions.

We are not the only ones to notice this "hands off" sort of trend. Just recently, CNN reported on it in an article entitled "North Korea already won." Here's an excerpt:

World leaders are moving carefully and anxiously, trying to prevent a disaster in the Korean Peninsula. This increasingly unpredictable round of saber-rattling is far from over, but so far the winner is the North Korean regime and the losers are the brutally oppressed North Korean people, joined by much of the rest of the world. While we watch the drama from far away, it's worth noting just how far North Korean weapons programs – not just the weapons themselves – can reach.

U.S. intelligence officials differ on their estimates of the range and accuracy of North Korean missiles, nuclear-tipped or not. But the country's nuclear and missile technology has already found its way to the Middle East.

North Korea helped Syria develop a nuclear reactor. It has sold missile technology and weapons to anyone willing to pay, and it has developed close cooperation with Iran.

If the crisis ended right now – with every piece of military hardware back to where it stood a few months ago and everyone taking a vow of silence on the matter so that we get no more threats and no more demands – the confrontation would have already sent clear and damaging messages across the globe, encouraging tyrants and regimes seeking or considering the idea of developing nuclear weapons.

North Korea's message seems to be: If you have nuclear capabilities, it doesn't matter how outrageously you behave; it doesn't matter how horribly you mistreat your people; it doesn't matter how flimsy your economy is.

When you have a nuclear arsenal, countries that could topple your regime with a tiny fraction of their power suddenly become afraid of making you angry.

But is it nuclear weapons that are frightening the West or the possibilities of a cobalt reaction?

We never took North Korea's recent aggressive stance very seriously given that it is one tiny country with or without nuclear weapons – and the chances that the "beloved" leaders of North Korea would actually use them seem virtually non-existent to us.

But at the same time, the US and NATO responses seem curiously muted and even the rhetoric seems to have been reduced. Could there be anything to these cobalt reports?

Of course, we understand why the "nuclear club" would not publicize the effects of cobalt-60 and its ramifications within the context of bunker busting, etc. It renders "tactical" nuclear strikes almost unworkable.

After Thoughts

If this process does exist, it would surely change the theory of warfare as we know it.